Void
by chronomura
Summary: Homura and Madoka argue over the implications of the new universe Homura has created. Before they can resolve their differences, fate intervenes.


The bustling metropolis of Mitakihara City served as the crown jewel for Homura Akemi's brave new world. Amongst all its structures, Mitakihara Metropolitan Tower strove furthest towards the heavens and dwarfed the skyline. At its apex, the curvature of the planet was readily apparent. Homura observed this phenomenon behind Madoka Kaname, who stood with her on the rooftop of this megastructure in the sky.

With crossed arms clad in black leather gloves, Homura spoke first, "Madoka. You must listen to me. The design of this universe is perfect. Flawless. There are no witches. There is no need for the sacrifice of magical girls anymore. We have nothing to fear."

Madoka tilted her head downward, kicking her red heels on the polished concrete. She then locked gazes with Homura again.

"But Homura-chan, we can't keep going on like this. Yes, the witches may be gone, but there are still wraiths that stalk the streets and spread despair to the people."

Homura quickly retorted, "Nevermind the wraiths. That can't be helped, even by me. It's just an inevitable side effect that we must live with," she continued, "Besides, with this new universe, we can be together forever! We'll never be alone again! That's what matters most."

"But Homura, everyone here is living a false dream. No one is really awake. That's not fair to give people a world that's built on a lie."

Homura clenched her jaw and her eyes narrowed, "Why can't you understand? I did this all for you! Everything has always been for you, Madoka. I've given you the entire universe and you still refuse to accept it? How could you do this to me? How could you be so cruel?"

Madoka raised a white gloved hand to her mouth in response to Homura's tirade, "Homura-chan, I never asked for the universe, only your companionship. You have to understand that manipulating time and space like this doesn't change the fact that everything must end one day."

"But it can last forever! The universe bends to my will!" Homura cried out.

"You cannot possess something so precious, Homura. You cannot be so selfish."

Homura seethed, "No! You are the selfish one. You never listened to me. If only you had listened to me."

Madoka interrupted, "I do listen to you! Of course I listen. But Homura, that doesn't change how I feel about what you've done."

Homura glanced skyward and inhaled, "Madoka! This is our universe - yours and mine. We don't have to share it with anyone else. But it's not selfish if we are sharing it _together_. We deserve this much after all the suffering we've endured."

Madoka shook her head, "Not at the price of the freedom of others. I will not allow us to sacrifice our friends and ordinary people like lambs at an altar."

"Can't you see reason, Madoka? If we're in control, we can keep everyone happy together," Homura continued, "I'm beginning to feel like you don't want to be here with me anymore."

"Homura-chan. You're..." Madoka hesitated, then gave Homura a grave stare, "You're no longer the same person I fell in love with."

Homura's eyes glowed electric with shock and despair. In a blind rage, she let out a feral scream of agony and raised her black-gloved arms towards the heavens as Madoka backpedaled from her. In the distance, the ocean no longer churned water but a black, milky substance. Meanwhile, skyscrapers across the cityscape suddenly were collapsing to dust. The destructive rumblings echoed and reverberated. The thin, wispy air of the atmosphere quickly transformed into a thick, heavy soup. Tentacles of dark matter radiated from below.

Madoka cried out, "Homura! What is happening? What are you doing?" With those words, Homura snapped her attention back to her surroundings.

"A vortex," Homura gasped, "No, this cannot be happening. Not now."

"Homura-chan, what's going on?" Madoka asked as she surveyed the destruction with worry.

"Madoka, my power..."

"What? Homura, tell me."

A disembodied voice from above stated matter-of-factly, "The fabric of Akemi Homura's universe is unraveling. Entropy has overtaken the system. The very structure binding matter together will fold into itself. Only the void of a supermassive black hole will remain."

"Incubator," Homura grunted.

The Metropolitan Tower quivered and teetered, as its structural integrity was failing from the gravitational pull of the newly formed void. The major steel support beams snapped under the pressure and the entire building bowed inward. Suddenly, the rooftop was slanting towards the void's center.

The shift caused Homura to stumble over, but she instinctively grabbed onto an external pipe to keep herself from sliding off the rooftop. Meanwhile, Madoka couldn't keep her footing and she also crashed down on the concrete; however, she was unable to find a nearby handhold to stop her slide. Instead, she attempted to regain her upright balance, but her high-heels buckled underneath her. She quickly tumbled off the roof of the Tower, and she was immediately captured by the gravity field of the void.

"Homura-chan!" Madoka cried out while falling.

Homura looked back with widened eyes, and instantly let go of the pipe to slide down in pursuit. The void violently swirled and devoured the cityscape as Madoka was suspended above it. Tendrils of dark matter whisked around her body and dragged her slowly towards the epicenter. At the same time, Homura was now also caught in the gravity field, but at a higher position than Madoka. She had more freedom to maneuver her body in the dense particle field.

"Madoka, take my hand!" Homura yelled. She stretched her arm downward as she floated above Madoka in the gravity stream. Madoka lifted her arm skyward, fighting the force of the tendrils, and Homura's leather gloved hand inched closer to hers. They both desperately grasped at the air until their gloved fingertips brushed up against each other's. Homura was able to clench Madoka's fingertips in a tight knot of black and white.

"Hold onto my hand, Madoka. I will pull you up. I promise." Homura gasped.

"Homura-chan, everything feels so cold." Madoka replied, eyes glazing over. With diminishing vitality, Madoka unconsciously released her fingers from Homura's grip and she was sucked down further into the void.

"Madoka! Stay with me!" Homura mustered her strength to extend her hand further and she managed to grasp Madoka's wrist and again stop her descent. Madoka, despite still losing her awareness, loosely wrapped her fingers around Homura's wrist. However, the power of the void was increasing, as more and more matter was being absorbed by its core. The dense waves of gravity were condensing matter and time towards one singular point.

"Madoka, listen. I know I was angry. I know I lashed out unfairly. I just can't bear to exist in a universe where you aren't happy. I thought I finally had solved everything for us. But you still rejected me and all that despair came rushing back to me. I was such a fool."

"Homura-chan, I forgive you. I know why you chose this path," she whispered. The void continued to pull Madoka downward causing her pure, white glove to begin slipping from the grasp of Homura's black-gloved hand. She struggled to maintain her tentative hold on the slippery fabric of Madoka's glove. The more tightly she squeezed, the faster Madoka's glove slid off.

"Homura-chan. I can't feel my body anymore." Madoka whispered again. The glove peeled further from her wrist, revealing beads of sweat underneath. Only the red ribbon tied around the glove's cuff was preventing it from slipping off her hand completely.

"No, Madoka. No. Hold on. I can save you. I can save you." Homura begged. Her fingers fumbled in an effort to secure a better hold, but in doing so, Homura inadvertently loosened the ribbon. With it completely unraveled, the glove now bunched up around the palm of Madoka's hand. It was coming undone and Homura couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening.

"Madoka, Madoka. No, please. Please. Stay with me. Just stay with me," Homura desperately pleaded with tears welling up in her eyes.

The event horizon loomed and Madoka's body became more frozen and stiff in time as she descended further. Tears fired out of Homura's eyes and floated in suspended animation in front of her.

"But I made sure everything was perfect this time! If making my own universe isn't enough, then what is?" Homura cried out.

"Homura," Madoka gasped, "Homura-chan. I wish…" Her lips could barely move to make out the words.

"I wish I could have loved you for eternity."

Suddenly, Madoka's hand fell out of the glove. Homura screamed and flailed and clawed to catch Madoka again, but it was too late. As Homura lunged, their hands missed reconnecting by a mere inch. The tendrils sucked Madoka into the center of the void and only a faint afterimage of her silhouette remained after she had been absorbed.

Clutching Madoka's white glove in her hand, Homura vacantly stared at the silhouette until her mind apprehended the reality of Madoka's death. Closing her eyes, Homura felt the threadlike appendages of the void molest and violate every surface of her body.

"So. This is true darkness," she uttered numbly.

Light and image faded from her vision. Homura felt her own atomic structure tearing apart by the singularity, but the pain never came. Her breathing ceased.

"Ma," Homura choked, "Ma… do... ka."

From high above, beady red eyes gazed upon the afterimages of the two magical girls superimposed over an infinitely dense core of swirling dark matter.

"Let there be light," the creature said raising it paw. Instantly, a flash of white exploded from the core.

In the blinding sea of photons, a voice called out: "Open your eyes."


End file.
